England Sevens bank on experience

SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT: Simon Amor has named an experienced squad for the Sydney Sevens which takes place on January 26-28.

Currently fourth on the World Rugby Sevens Series, England have been drawn in Pool C with Spain, Papa New Guinea and current champions South Africa.

Both Dan Bibby and Alex Davis return to the side after they missed the opening two tournaments of the series while they recovered from injuries sustained in pre-season training.

"The ability for us to get a consistent group of players training since Cape Town and over Christmas has been excellent. We were slightly frustrated with the way that we performed in Cape Town – our decision making and handling errors were just too high for us to be top-end successful. However, I’m pleased with how the guys have performed in training leading up to this next tournament," said Amor.

Amor added: "It's disappointing to lose Charlie Hayter who is still recovering from a reoccurring hip injury but being able to bring Dan Bibby and Alex Davis back into the squad has added much more competition for those places and enables us to send a fantastic side out to Sydney."

Saracens' Mike Ellery who has previously played for the England Sevens on the world series as well as representing Team England Sevens at the 2014 Commonwealth Games will also fly to Sydney for the third leg of this season’s competiton.

"As such a powerful and fast player, Mike brings a real physical edge to the team and is a great attribute. It has been a good three years since Mike last played sevens but his performance in training has been tremendous and we are thankful to Saracens for releasing Mike for this opportunity."

Newcastle University student Harry Glover who made a big impact in Dubai and Cape Town has not been considered for selection as he will remain in the UK to sit his university exams.